Based on the successful TV series.
(Volume 1: Resistance)
(Volume 1: Resistance)
The Star Wars Rebels Magazine was a magazine published by Titan Magazines (US), Egmont UK (UK), and Panini (mainland Europe). It featured known information about Star Wars Rebels, contained short comics featuring characters from the show, and gave out some details about them.
While the events of the comic are not essential to the show, they are indeed canon. Senator Nadea Tural would later appear in Star Wars (Marvel 2015), "The Thune Cargo" takes place on a world previously featured in Adventures in Wild Space, and so forth.
As of December 2016, the magazines are no longer being localized in America and Britain, instead being replaced with a new magazine series in 2017.
It is still being published in the rest of Europe, continuing into Season 3.
New issues are released every four weeks. Issues are later collected into volumes.
List of issues
- Ring Race (January 2015) - The Ghost crew compete in a race against a vicious crime lord.
- Learning Patience (February 2015) - Ezra must conquer his impatience to help the Ghost escape an Imperial attack.
- The fake Jedi (March 2015) - Kanan finds himself on the planet Vyndal, where the people claim to be protected by a Jedi.
- Kallus' Hunt (April 2015) - Kallus must chase down an old friend gone rogue before he can get off of Lothal.
- Return of the Slavers (May 2015) - Sabine gets captured by Zygerrian slaver MaDall and must teach the slaves to rise up against all tyranny.
- Eyes on the Prize (June 2015) - Ezra gets hunted down by bounty hunters.
- Sabotaged Supplies (July 2015) - After discovering that the supplies given to Tarkintown were contaminated, Zeb must retrieve the cure before it's too late. But first, he'll have to confront Kallus.
- Ezra's Vision (August 2015) - Ezra has a vision of him attacking Zeb. When it seems that there is a traitor in their midst, the crew must figure out who is who before they can get too excited...
- Senate Perspective (September 2015) - Imperial Senator Nadea Tural finds herself discovering a new perspective on the conflict when she gets 'captured' by the Ghost crew.
- Becoming Hunted (October 2015) - Zeb helps a group of hunters escape from the same creatures the latter had been hunting.
- Assessment (November 2015) - Aresko and Grint must prove themselves to visiting Assessor Potalla.
- Ocean Rescue (December 2015) - Sabine and Ahsoka perform a mission to an underwater Imperial facility to rescue an old friend of the former, who also previously had some history with ocean missions in the past.
- Secret of Sienar (December 2015 (New Year's Release)) - Zeb and Kanan travel to Absanz on a recon mission to discover what secrets the Sienar Fleet Systems factory could hold.
- No Sympathy (January 2016) - Two recently rebelled officers, including a former protege under Kallus, attempt to flee the world of Thrad while the aforementioned agent hunts them down.
- A Day's Duty (February 2016) - Mizel, a young but clumsy and in-confident mechanic in Phoenix Squadron, must pull himself together when the Squadron gets a problem during a fleet battle.
- Ice Breaking (March 2016) - Kanan and Ezra confront the Inquisitors on an ice planet and must learn how to use the environment to their advantage.
- Vulnerable Areas (April 2015) - While helping a rebel cell on Imvur, Rex and Kanan get attacked by Imperial walkers.
- Academy Cadets (May 2016) - The Ghost crew receives an SOS from an Imperial ship of cadets Imvur-bound. The rebels will help anyone in need, enemy or not, but compassion doesn't change the risk of letting these Imperial officers in the making on board the Ghost... at least, not completely.
- Escaping the Scrapheap (June 2016)
- The Gangsters of Galzez (August 2016)
- Puffer Problems (September 2016)
- The Thune Cargo (November 2016)
- ''Always Bet On Chop' (October 2016)note - Chopper gets mixed up in a gladiatorial battle.
- A Second Chance (November 2016) - Sabine goes into another rescue mission to save another friend from Imperial clutches.
- The Ballad of 264 (December 2016) - A look into the life of 264 as he tries to be a hero after leaving his life as an Imperial droid. However, things don't go as well as he expected.
- The Line of Duty (January 2017) - Ezra, Reann, and Mizel attempt to contact Commander Ryden's rebels on the forest world of Kinrah but must fight their way against Stormtroopers.
- A Time to Survive (February 2017) - Ezra is separated from the crew during a mission and re-encounters Wullfwarro, Kitwarr, and their group of Wookiees.
- Too Late to Change (March 2017) - Ketsu Onyo encounters a family of three while hunting a bounty for Black Sun.
- The Size of the Fight (April 2017) - Zeb defends short bat/mice-like people from a killer monster.
- The Wrong Crowd (April 2017)
- Off the Rails (May 2017)
- To Thy Metal Heart Be True (June 2017)
- Sons of the Sky (July 2017)
- Final Round (August 2017)
- A Youth Unpromising (August 2017)
- Fifth and Final (October 2017)
- Never Far Behind (December 2017)
Tropes in these comics include:
- Bad Boss: Crime Lord Skraik in "The Size of the Fight", who used a Gundark he dubbed Gigi to frighten his gang into working for him without pay. His cruelty was not limited to his men. He'd often use an electric prod to control Gigi as well.
- Black-Tie Infiltration: While working a con-job on the luxury train Exas Jewell in "Off the Rails", Lando poses as the train's designer. Though Lando manages to save the passengers of the train from a gang of pirates, one of the passengers reveals to him that she knew he was an impostor the whole time.
- Call-Back:
- Jovan's escape attempt in "Kallus' Hunt" receives a mention in "Assessment" as an example of the Lothal Garrison's incompetence.
- Tural's experience with the Ghost crew in "Senate Perspective" is what drives her to help turncoats in "No Sympathy".
- The cadet unit in "Academy Cadets" were being transferred to Imvur. The comic before, "Vulnerable Areas", took place there with a local rebel cell.
- Cassandra Truth:
- Tural initially refuses to listen to Hera and the crew's claims that the Senate is just a bunch of figureheads for the Emperor. It takes another Imperial officer to tell her roughly the same thing for her to realize the truth.
- Continuity Nod:
- Zare gets brought up to talk with Potalla concerning Aresko and Grint on the events of "Breaking Ranks". She also wishes him well on his transfer to Arkanis, which he mentions in to Ezra in "Vision of Hope".
- "The Thune Cargo" takes place on Thune, first seen in Adventures in Wild Space.
- Day in the Life: Pretty much. The comics tell stories of the characters from Rebels that don't contribute a whole lot to the show's storyline, but they do detail the 'regular' shenanigans they get into offscreen.
- Delicate and Sickly: Mindiz, along with many other Tarkintown citizens, in Sabotaged Supplies. It gets alleviated once Zeb gets the cure.
- Downer Ending:
- "Kallus' Hunt" could qualify, since Jovan gets arrested and Kallus doesn't care, though the former's reasons for going rogue were due to embezzlement rather than rebelling.
- In "Assessment", it's just another day of rebelling for Sabine, Chopper, and Zeb, but when it seems that Aresko and Grint have gotten Assessor Potalla's approval, she later reports to Tarkin of their incompetence, leading to the events of "Call to Action".
- "Ocean Rescue" ends with Janard dying anyway.
- "No Sympathy" ends with Swain, Cogon, and Beneda getting arrested and prepared for interrogation.
- "The fake Jedi" ends with Yeleb dying after trying to help Kanan fight the Inquisitor.
- "The Ballad of 264" ends with 264 getting left behind as the Ghost crew escape the Empire. Though Zeb catches sight of him, indicating they will come back for him.
- Evil Mentor: Kallus to Swain.
- Foreshadowing:
- Sabine has a bad history with large bodies of water, apparently something related to her days in the Academy. Subverted in that the show doesn't explain how water is involved in her backstory, though it could be explained in other material.
- Kallus having to turn in two of his rogue friends becomes ironic when he ends up having a Heel–Face Turn and becomes dedicated to helping rebel sympathizers escape the Empire.
- Sabine's friendship with Janard bring to mind another Cool Old Guy from Mandalore that she'll befriend... that guy being Rau.
- Ketsu telling Sabine that Black Sun imprisoned Ojo so she can free him and later refusing to go through with killing a former Black Sun hitman that quit to take care of his family foreshadows her Heel–Face Turn in Forces of Destiny.
- Greed: Apparently, Jovan is in trouble because he embezzled.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Swain and Cogon in "No Sympathy" were disgusted by the Empire's actions ever since "Call to Action", not wanting to hurt people. They get arrested before they can get to the Klonoid rebel cell.
- Heel Realization: After being defended by the crew even after she insulted them for being rebels with no faith in the Empire in Senate Perspective, Senator Tural parts ways with them, needing time to think. By "No Sympathy", she's now willing to covertly help other turncoats escape to other rebel cells. She gets found out in Annual #1 and dies along with several other rebel-sympathetic senators.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- One of the hunters in "Becoming Hunted" does this so that Zeb and the others can escape.
- Hidden Depths: Aresko and Grint frame Dunum and get him arrested. Doesn't stop Potalla from giving them a bad report though.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Mizel was inspired by the Ghost crew, specifically the Jedi boy Ezra. When he runs off to join Phoenix Squadron, he reacts accordingly when he first meets Ezra.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When Tural pleads with Earll to have the rebels be put on trial by the Senate rather than executed right then and there, Earll tells her to back off, saying that the Senate has no jurisdiction in the Outer Rim, especially concerning matters of treason. Tural ends up pulling away Earll's blaster and saves the crew.
- No Kill like Overkill: In "No Sympathy", Kallus pulls out his bo-rifle in staff mode with intent to use it on his ex-student. Nevermind that the bo-rifle contains a whopping 11,000 bolts that only species like Lasat can at least be exhausted from. Luckily, he never actually uses it in their fight.
- Once per Episode: At least one new character is introduced per issue.
- Poison and Cure Gambit: Kallus contaminates the supplies in Sabotaged Supplies, knowing that the rebels would steal them for Tarkintown and would have to return to the Imperial Complex to retrieve the cure, with Imperial forces ready to confront them.
- A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Inverted for Swain. She realized that the Empire wasn't worth serving and protecting if it wouldn't do the same for its own people, but Kallus believes she foolishly threw her life and future away.
- Stern Chase: Mentioned in "Ocean Rescue" that Sabine was chased by the Imperials on Mandalore after she deserted from the academy. Implied to have been through a Fugitive Arc.
- Surpassed the Teacher: Swain manages to best Kallus in single combat. She only loses because she wasn't expecting him to pull out a stun blaster from under his cuirass. Kallus chides her for this.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- For Aresko and Grint, one kind-of success isn't going to outweigh the rest of your failures.
- Reann is reluctant about deserting the Empire because she's worried about what's going to happen to her family and what they will say after she leaves.
- ...which ends up being what Rake's family has to deal with in the aftermath of "The Antilles Extraction" episode.
- Television Tie-In Magazines: It features known information about Star Wars Rebels, short, canonical comics of the characters, and some details about them.
- Villain Episode: "Kallus's Hunt" and "No Sympathy" are both Kallus-centric comics. "Assessment" as well for Aresko and Grint.
- We Used to Be Friends: Kallus and Jovan, the latter having gone rogue.
